


It Bombed

by halocentury



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: 4.18, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Jerome Valeska Lives, M/M, POV Jim Gordon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:01:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26050822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halocentury/pseuds/halocentury
Summary: Jim Gordon shot his gun twice, shooting Jerome in the shoulder, then knocking the phone out of his hand. He would either arrest the maniac or kill him.Then Oswald starts negotiating over the phone.
Relationships: Oswald Cobblepot/Jerome Valeska
Comments: 2
Kudos: 30





	It Bombed

**Author's Note:**

> A very quick idea that hit me.

The blimp had been a threat, but as it came into position over the rooftop, Jim realised just how big the danger truly was. There was no concept of just how much laughing gas was being carried; perhaps enough canisters the fill the whole thing. It wouldn’t just effect Paisley Square, it would spread through into a much bigger area, maybe the whole city.

He tightened his jaw and redirected his gun, his aim having shifted away from Jerome, and fired just as the maniac dialed.

“Yes? Hello? Jerome? Jerome? I’m in position.”

“Jerome!”

Jerome never got to giving the order, both of them staring at the phone, Oswald’s voice carrying remarkably well, the sharp pitch working to an advantage for once.

“Birdie? What are you doing up there?”

Jim tried to not gnash his teeth, glaring back and forth from the phone to Jerome, trying not to look to the blimp. He had told Oswald to get the blimp away from the square, but it was still overhead. 

“Scarecrow and Mad Hatter tied me up in here!” 

“And he’s about to thwart your plans!” Jim added, yelling with the expectation that Oswald would hear him too. “Put your hands up or I will shoot again!”

“Drop the bombs, Ozzy!” Jerome yelled back, grinning wide, thinking he still had the upper hand.

“I won’t Jerome!”

“We had a deal!”

“Do you even know what Scarecrow did to me?” Oswald continued, deciding that this was a fine time to have a conversation, and not steer the blimp away.

“He tied you up, which apparently was the right thing to do! Were you ever going to-“

“He attacked me with his fear gas! You have no idea what he is capable of doing! Or Hatter! Did you really trust them?”

“Legion of Horribles ring a bell to you? We do horrible things!” Jerome huffed, rolling his eyes as he looked to Jim, a silent complaint about colleagues reneging on their plan. Jim stared back, uncaring, just waiting to see if Oswald did have his own reasons for this conversation. “You do too!”

“Have you never heard of what Hatter did to his sister?” Jim ignored the cold disgust that dragged from memories he tried to forget, settling heavily in his stomach. He certainly remembered Alice, how Tetch preyed on her for his own gain. Oswald continued on the phone, taking their silence to continue. “I know how much you care for your brother, how you only want him to be his best. You want to be a good brother for him, show him what he is capable of. How would you be able to show him if you expose him to--”

“The gas will free him! He’s repressed himself for too long! There is something inside of him, that deserves to be free! To learn that he’s--”

“You’re setting him up to hate you even more! Whether or not this is the laughing gas on the blimp!”

“Whaddya mean?! Of course it is!”

Jim nearly wanted to interrupt this conversation, it was dragging on too long. He would arrest Jerome and take him down to the precinct, throw him back into Arkham and-

“Do you trust Hatter and Scarecrow? I know what they are capable, and laughing gas isn’t Scarecrow’s MO. He thrives on driving fear into people. I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m carting around fear gas on the blimp at this very moment. And if I drop this gas over the Square, the Jeremiah you want to be free, won’t be the one you get! He’ll remember all of his worst memories, all his worst fears. And… won’t those just be the ones that you remember from your childhood?”

Jim held his breath as Jerome froze, hand clenched in the air, no longer glaring at the phone, eyes wide, remembering the childhood he had recounted in the interrogation room. Beside the father who never gave him the chance to have anything better.

“And if it’s the laughing glass, Jeremiah will just be one in… hundreds, thousands of other crazy people. How can he be special if he looks and acts like everyone else? How would you look? You – you and Jeremiah, just two faces in a crowd of maniacs, blurring into the background.”

“I would still be in charge! They would all follow me!” Jerome argued, spurned back into action, gesticulating.

“Maybe. Herd mentality is a powerful thing.” Jim imagined he could see the shrug, Oswald conceding one point over the phone. “But on the other hand, you’d be alone. Like you are now. Hatter and Scarecrow have already run off, to hide until this has blown over. Freeze has gone back to his lab, working on his cure. Firefly… well, she’s got her own goals.

“And Jeremiah? He’d forget you all again. Go back to his bunker, block out the rest of the world, go back to his job.”

“He wouldn’t,” Jerome growled, though it sounded more like a petulant child, voice teetering on the edge of a tantrum. “I won’t let him!”

“But I’m still here. I think I know exactly why they tied me up. Because they knew, if I had the chance to properly talk to you, we would do something far more brilliant, and potent, together.”

Jerome twitched, jerking his gaze to Jim. Motioned to him with a raised finger, requesting a moment. “Private call. Business you know.” Hopping from the ledge of the roof to land within the somewhat better protected rooftop, he sat on the ledge and picked up the phone, muttering on the phone. 

“Damnit.” It was better than releasing the gas, which as Oswald argued, could just as easily be fear gas; Jim lowered his arm slightly, mostly to keep the gun on the new position Jerome assumed, free hand gesticulating for an unseen second person. And he certainly felt like the third wheel in this negotiation.

A loud sigh caught his attention and when he refocussed on Jerome, he realised he was shaking his head, a rather fond expression on his face. “You have a point Birdie. We’ll discuss this later.”

Flipping his phone shut he slid it into his jacket pocket before sliding down to his knees, raising his hands above his head. “Ahhh-rest me officer,” he drawled, wiggling his eyebrows. “You’ve got me, I’ve been a bad man.” 

Jim shook his head, knowing that he was screwed no matter what he did. He didn’t know what Jerome and Oswald had agreed to, but regardless what happened to both of them, it would end the same way. Oswald diverted a crisis, and if he wasn’t sent back to Arkham, he could very readily break Jerome out.

And if Oswald was sent back to Arkham, the two of them would have much more time to plot together. 

Jerome grinned as if he knew everything going through his head. 


End file.
